Anambra guber: INEC obeys court order, restores PDP’s Valentine Ozigbo

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has listed Valentine Ozigbo as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Anambra governorship election.

The commission also published the name of Lilian Enemo as the PDP’s deputy governorship candidate.

In the list published on July 16, INEC had excluded the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

But in a ruling on July 19, a federal high court in Awka ordered INEC to publish the name of Ozigbo as candidate of the PDP.

Similarly, on September 3, a court of appeal in Abuja declared Valentine Ozigbo as the validly nominated PDP candidate.

Speaking on the development, Festus Okoye, INEC’s commissioner for information and voter education, had said the commission would comply with “valid court orders”.

In a statement on Thursday, Okoye said the commission met and deliberated on a number of issues, including the nomination of candidates for the Anambra governorship election.

According to him, the listing of the candidates is the result of court orders received by the commission on PDP.

“The commission was served with two judgements of the court of appeal (Awka judicial division) in respect of the candidature of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the Anambra governorship election,” the statement reads.

“The court has ordered the commission to recognise and publish the name of Mr. Valentine Ozigbo as the governorship candidate. Earlier, the party had substituted its Deputy Governorship candidate within the deadline provided by law.”

Okoye added that the final list of candidates will be published on October 7, 2021.